Gor SL is not dead, I checked! (part 1)
There are no more Gor BtB sims! Yes, I’ve been told it again, so I went to check, and guess what? Well, it’s not true, and a little curiosity soon reveals that there are still a good twenty active sims, not counting those that opened recently. So I went to have a look, and here’s what it looks like for the first 7 sims I visited. And I give a quick opinion on each one.
I want to be clear: I’m not here to promote any sims. I do it when I like the sim I’m presenting, because I say what I think and give my opinion. So here I am presenting sims according to a review, based on three simple criteria:
1- OOC rules: for me, this is the main element. A beautiful sim with nice people, but non-existent, lax or tyrannical OOC rules is a sim that increases its chances of generating drama, and drama is the enemy of game enjoyment and the sims’ lifespan.
2-Scenery: I like things that are architecturally beautiful and well thought-out, and that are also designed to create good opportunities for interaction. So it’s an important criterion… and when it’s not beautiful, it’s not motivating.
3- Technical: welcome and arrival area, ease of access to the sim, rules, groups, clarity of information and lag! Because a beautiful sim that’s a hellish 10 FPS, well, that kills all motivation to play.
I wish I could say more, but this article is here to prove that, no, gorean roleplay is not dying, and to give you the opportunity to see for yourself by going out and making discoveries; so, let’s get started… In a few days, I’ll do the same for the next 7 sims. The number in brackets is the traffic score at the time of my visit.
Imperial Cos: Telnus (65054)
The most popular sim at the moment. Okay, it really lags terribly, even on medium to medium-low displays. Very large, populated and very active, at all hours of the day. But even with my war-beast of a computer, I cried tears of blood to get the shot. By the way, I was impressed by this beautiful urban sim, beautifully decorated… I can’t say much more than that, as I don’t know much about it. On the other hand, the rules of the sim are the kind of rules that make me want to go and play it, they’re intelligent, open, benevolent… too bad it’s so lag.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/High%20Winds/116/59/1257
Port Genesian (25913)
My big concern is their rules: too many OOC/RP constraints and unspoken rules that are not specified in their rules. So you can break a rule that’s NOT in the rules and get thrown out. I note, however, that the appallingly low script limit has finally been cut. But personally, I’d rather break my arm than go there to RP, I have bad memories. But it’s always busy, during the day and especially in the evenings during American hours, and if you’re not of my demanding nature, the atmosphere is not bad, and the welcome has always been good. There are several related sims and the decor is as beautiful as ever, and… it still lags just as much. How can a sim lag a computer where I’m playing Cyberpunk 2077 almost corner-to-corner graphics settings with mods to further increase rendering?
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Respitika%20Isle/239/168/4066
The isles of Tira (18277)
I didn’t know the sim at all and, bad point, you can’t get out of the docks and see the city, locked door… but when I arrived, I was quickly offered… a group to be able to open the door. Well, that’s nice, but no. I have a Second Life subscription, so I can have lots of groups, but people often have a limited number of groups, so it’s not a GOOD IDEA. Apart from that, I don’t like the environment setting chosen by default on the sim, and my god, what : Mesh Requirement in the OOC rules ? So, I’d much prefer a mesh avatar, of course, but to force it into sim rules?! I don’t agree either with their requirement of 51% SL presence on THEIR sim. Ask people to participate, yes… but force them to share their time at 51% or more? No! But it does confirm that this is clearly a more private sim than a public one.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Summershade/180/124/28
Port Olni (16979)
First point, I’m not a fan of the presentation of the rules, a major point in my eyes. The OOC rules are minimalist and introduce a complete vagueness of application, and the only vaguely detailed OOC rules are the raid rules. The rest is RP law. Another private sim with a closed door, but no welcome or offer to visit… As for the decor, it’s very old-school, like a 2009 sim. The good thing is that at least it doesn’t lag!
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Olni/129/19/507
Sköl (15624)
the Torvian sim where I found myself somewhat against my will, since I don’t like the roleplay of Nordic sims on Gor, but where I was wonderfully welcomed, while being confronted with a few problematic players. But I couldn’t speak ill of it, really. The rules are open and inclusive, the atmosphere very family-friendly, the scenery is very beautiful for those who love Torvaldsland, and there’s really no lag.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sincere%20Estates/26/103/29
Oasis of Two Scimitars (15237)
Well, I suppose that with so much traffic, the sim must have some interest, but it didn’t jump out at me from the lacklustre rules (only the OOC raid rules). No people, no welcome, gate closed, from a distance, the scenery is empty, deserted, old school, but the city is rather pretty. But once again, terrible lag.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Two%20Scimitars%20Oasis/13/11/22
Turmus (15052)
We start with a script limit that I thought was problematic, with a counter that apparently can eject you if you exceed the limit, but I’m not sure it works, it didn’t send me flying. I always prefer prevention to prohibition, so that’s fine. On the other hand, a sign with a calendar of events is great! The rules are classic, detailed, precise, and relatively benevolent and inclusive (I’m still talking about the OOC rules, of course!). The setting is very thirteenth-century German medieval, and it’s very beautiful and not too laggy! What’s more, the city is vast, dense and open to all. It’s a real success! It wasn’t very busy when I visited and there was no reception, but the sim is recruiting.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Nile%20River/152/69/2662
Discover the second part of this article at this link!
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I can talk about why Telnus is laggy! The problem is all the damned people. Okay, the problem is actually the VRAM. But it’s the people using that up. 😛
When you’re playing Cyberpunk 2077, you’re dealing with a game where every single asset has been developed and optimized with performance in mind, which means, among other things, the designers have carefully budgeted their texture usage. They’ve designed the game so that in any spot you stand, your graphics card is being asked to do a reasonable number of draw calls per frame. I bet you already see the SL problem.
SL allows user created content and LI is based on mesh complexity, which has a little to do with performance, but completely neglects texture usage… which has a much greater impact on how your computer handles it. SL also loads ALL the textures at every LOD… so even though a building may look blockier and lower detail when it’s far away, to show it’s textures the game still has to transfer all of them to you over the network, and load every single one of them into your VRAM every single frame. The more textures you use on something, the (generally) better it can look… especially up close… but also the more textures it uses, the more draw calls that item requires, which means the more lag it puts on your graphics card! Some designers are really responsible about it and others are just plain reckless in the way they use texture memory.
But whereas an AAA RPG can guarantee that there’s no place you can stand where a graphics card will be asked to do more than it can handle, SL doesn’t give us that option. When we built Telnus we were RELIGIOUS about chasing VRAM optimization. All of the custom buildings we did are super optimized, and we asked the decor team to reuse the same furniture and flora bits as often as possible, rather than forcing viewers to load more textures into memory, even when it might have benefited the overall look to do so… and it worked really well until we let all the damned people in! 😛
With all the optimization we did, when we open up 70 rentals and let people decorate them however they want, without regard to VRAM… and when we’ve got 50 people on sim, all with dozens of accessories and attachments… all of those items clutter up your graphic card’s memory and lag your computer. So when you walk around SL and go ‘why can my computer run a 2024 AAA title that looks amazing, but bog down on a 2004 vintage social game that doesn’t feel remotely as polished… it’s all the user created and user rezzed content and there’s nothing we could do about it without only offering identically pre-furnished rentals and being tyrants about people’s attachment and script count and we hate doing those things. Lowering your own draw distance is the best way to quickly increase SL performance. Also our warriors often cam through everyone’s houses and derender all the furniture, so that we can move around the sim in a lagfree way when required to! It’s a little extreme and it’s annoying when someone invites you over and you have to admit that you can’t see their couch, but… it does work!